scotchiegirl

[scotchiegirl]

This, this moment right here, encapsulates all of what I love about this episode and why it's probably my genuine favorite of all time.

Because it's all right there. Eliot's just woken up from being drugged. You know how much effort it takes to drug Eliot Spencer? You know how powerful that concoction Sterling put in his coffee had to be to take down Eliot Spencer? You know how many drugs he's pushed through? Do you know how much Eliot had to trust Sterling for Sterling to drug him? Like yeah, Eliot punches Sterling on principle and snarls and fights and bickers with him, and Sterling gives as good as he gets, but Eliot would not have drunk that coffee if he did not trust Sterling. At the very least if he did not trust that Sterling needed him. Needed them all.

And then the drugging happens and Sterling has taken Eliot's earbud, so he can't tell the team of the betrayal, and then Sterling locks him in a closet, so Eliot physically can't push through the drugging and go to his team to warn them. In every way, Eliot is hobbled and helpless and trapped and betrayed.

So he manages to wake up, break out of the room, is trying to find his team and is desperately still hoping they're even alive, let alone free and/or safe, he has no clue what's been going on-

And then he sees Hardison. Hardison is fine, he's free, he's confidently walking through the front door and giving Eliot an attitude for being gone. If Hardison is safe? The team is fine. The team is gonna be just fine. And so, still loopy with drugs, Eliot just grabs Hardison and pulls him in for a hug, closes his eyes into it, both arms around the kid the entire way, as emotional as he can get for a solid half a second.

Until Hardison starts to return the hug and then immediately all the doors drop. The "I've just been violated by being drugged" feeling surfaces, the "something's trying to touch/constrict me" hitter instinct surfaces, the "aw heck, I'm willingly hugging Hardison, he's gonna think I'm dying, real it back quick" thought pops up, and immediately he's back to his feral snarling cat "don't touch me" self.

It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

And made even more beautiful by the fact that Eliot being in that state is completely unnecessary if Sterling had trusted Nate even the tiniest little bit!!!!!

I will never be over The Queen's Gambit Job, my beloved.

just managed to pause on this and I am overjoyed

hardison stiff as a board, still caught in the initial "what the fuck" at the contact

eliot all "this is nice, hardison's safe, I can relax now" and closing his eyes about it.

[scotchiegirl]

Battle of the Barbies: Fashionistas (Round 1)

[scotchiegirl]

Maggie time!! MAGGIE TIME!!!! I LOVE MAGGIE SO MUCH oh my god she is everything to me

[scotchiegirl]

A Meta On The Italian And The Theory She Might Be Damien Moreau’s Wife

So here’s a twisty little head canon: What if The Italian — the mysterious and morally gray woman who blackmails the team into taking down Damien Moreau in Season 3 — is actually Moreau’s wife?

It sounds wild at first, but honestly? It makes way too much sense.

Breakdown Of The Theory Under The Cut:

She’s way too invested. This isn’t just a professional takedown. She doesn’t want Moreau arrested — she wants him ruined. She drags the team through fire to do it. The vibe isn’t “clean Interpol sting.” It’s “I have a personal score to settle.”

She knows everything. Moreau’s criminal network is global and highly protected, and yet The Italian has nearly unrestricted access to intel, contacts, and strategies. That’s not just insider knowledge — it feels like firsthand experience.

She disappears after Moreau is caught. No credit, no follow-up, no reveal of her real identity. She finishes the job and vanishes. Not exactly standard procedure for someone working for a government agency. But for a woman who’s spent years planning her escape from a powerful, abusive husband? Perfectly on-brand.

If You Think About It, The Backstory Writes Itself

She marries Moreau, probably before he hits peak warlord status. Maybe she’s seduced by the wealth and power at first. Or maybe she was never given much of a choice.

As Moreau grows more dangerous, so does her role — maybe she helped him build his empire early on, before realizing how far it would go. By the time she tries to leave, it’s too late. She’s trapped, watched, and erased. So she plays the long game: disappears, changes identities, builds connections in law enforcement, and sets up a plan to burn it all down.

Using Nate’s team? That’s just good strategy.

Why This Works

This head canon gives The Italian actual depth. In the show, she’s a mystery with a vague accent and an even vaguer job description. But this idea re-centers her as a survivor — someone who escaped a life of crime from inside the belly of the beast and decided to destroy it from the outside.

It also recontextualizes her dynamic with Nate. She doesn’t just understand what it’s like to blur the lines between justice and revenge — she’s lived it. She’s what Nate could become if he keeps walking that razor’s edge.

TL;DR

The Italian as Moreau’s wife turns her from a one-off mystery woman into a fully realized character with her own arc of trauma, revenge, and redemption.

It gives her actions more gravity, makes her manipulation of the team more layered, and offers a stunning mirror to Nate’s own descent into obsession.

The Italian isn’t just some shadowy government agent — she’s the woman who knew Damien Moreau better than anyone, married into his empire, and decided to burn it to the ground when she realized who he really was.

Honestly? It explains everything.

And it makes her ten times more interesting.

[scotchiegirl]

Hardison : What creative skill would people be most surprised to hear that you possess?

You know, I had to ask my sister for this one, but I think it would have to be wood burning? I'm not proficient in it or anything, but it *is* something that people might be surprised to hear that I can do 😂

Thanks for the ask!!

[scotchiegirl]

what’s YOUR "it’s a very distinctive…"?

Okay, so I think I have two that kind of half count? I think! So I'm counting them as one together, lol.

First one has to be: the songs on my Spotify Likes Playlist and/or 80s/90s songs if I'm on a top hits radio station. I was playing a game with myself the other day to identify the songs on my SP likes as fast as I could and move on and my average was like... Five seconds? I wanna say?

The second one is The Scarlet Pimpernel. This one is more of a "I can talk about this for hours so don't get me started because I have Very Strong Opinions" kind of "It's A Very Distinctive-" but I can also usually zero in on a Scarlet Pimpernel fanart by vibes alone in seconds so I think it counts

(The Scarlet Pimpernel is the first book in a series of ~basically~ standalone novels by Baroness Orczy. The titular character is one of the models of the modern superhero tropes, but the series is set in the time of The Reign of Terror in the French Revolution. VERY strong Leverage vibes, VERY strong competence vibes, VERY purple prose (on occasion.) (This last is a good thing and a bad thing.) The main character (who is not the title character) is a mass of nerves and thinks she's hot shit. She's blackmailed into helping bring down the superhero, The Scarlet Pimpernel, (who is a master of disguise and the smartest man in Britain or France and who is helping rescue people from the guillotine with about twenty of his closest friends.) She's dealing with all this while icing out and being iced out by her slow, giant, dandy husband and neither of them really know how to fix their marriage or if they even want to.)

(^^^ ... See what I mean? 🤣)

Anyway, yeah, that's my answer for that one!! Thanks for the ask!!!

[scotchiegirl]

Complicated questions for a Leverage ask game:

Nate : What very specific drink would you drink instead of water if you got the benefits of water from drinking it?

Sophie : What's the most elaborate lie you've ever told (that you can safely tell about) that everyone believed?

Eliot : What's the most niche skill you possess, and is there an interesting story to how you know it?

Parker : What is the most physically sneaky thing were you able to pull off without giving yourself away?

Hardison : What creative skill would people be most surprised to hear that you possess?

---

"Let's go steal a-" : Have you ever pulled off a benign heist? (And can/will you tell us about it?)

"unSEX me HERE!" : Have you ever bombed something so badly that all you could do was laugh about it afterwards?

"It's a very distinctive-" : What is your "very distinctive" thing you can recognize the second you see/hear/taste/etc. it? (The more obscure the better)

"I didn't even stab him!" : What's your weirdest bad habit that you've broken?

"Age of the geek, baby!" : What is the geekiest thing you have ever done that you were ridiculously proud of?

[scotchiegirl]

Why do I feel like I haven't gotten enough background for Hardison?

We know Sophie might be/probably is royalty, has a series of identities and old lovers that show up throughout the show.

Eliot used to work for Damien Moreau, that his dad owned a hardware store, he almost married into a rancher family, and trained as a professional chef.

Parker's Dad was also a thief but decided to abandon her so she could 'learn on her own' when he actually just wanted to start a new family. She was in and out of foster care, raised herself on the street, and lost someone she loved.

Nate's backstory is literally seasons 1-3.

But Hardison?? He's hacker who loves gaming. He has a nemesis named Chaos. None of that is his past. The only thing the show has told us is that he also grew up in the foster system and started hacking as a kid.

[scotchiegirl]

Yapped but I don’t think any of my friends know psych so to tumblr it goes

[scotchiegirl]

You don't have to have written. If you discussed it with someone, or just imagined it in your head I already consider you having it.

Tell me about it if you do!

[scotchiegirl]

category five rereading fic that I wrote moment

[scotchiegirl]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59795341/chapters/163592983

Chapter 3: The Call Summary: It started out as a feeling / Which then grew into a hope / Which then turned into a quiet thought / Which then turned into a quiet word / And then that word grew louder and louder / 'Til it was a battle cry / I'll come back / When you call me / No need to say goodbye --"The Call", Regina Spektor ~~~ Molly finally gets her first bit of good luck

Hey y'all it's uh ... It's been a while 😅 but uh, Chapter 3 of The Molly Job is up!!

@independent-fics @magsintherain @werewolfsmile

[scotchiegirl]

That's just the Mark Sheppard experience in my opinion. Are Sterling, Crowley, and half a dozen other staples of geekdom played by Mark Sheppard hot? Absolutely. But not sexy. You know what I mean?

I'm sure there's the opposite out there somewhere. An actor or actress who is quintessentially sexy without being hot. Sexiness and Hotness are cousins I feel like, not twins, you know what I mean? They're not the same thing.

Best example of non-physical hotness I have is Jim Sterling from Leverage. The guy moves and talks in a way that makes me go absolutely feral.

[scotchiegirl]

spin this wheel for a length of fic. you have to write a fic that length

[scotchiegirl]

Tagged by @independent-fics Thanks for the tag!!

Last Song: Too many to count XD. When I started writing this out it was technically "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)" by Leo Sayer, but as of right now it's "Lookin' Up" by Barenaked Ladies and the last song that's been my personality for a solid chunk of time is "God Games" from Epic the Musical

Last Book: I started reading "Splintered" by A.G. Howard, an Alice in Wonderland... Retelling? Sort of? It's about Alice's descendants and going down the rabbit hole being a curse. I don't know if I'll continue with it but it was interesting.

Last Movie: Some Like it Hot with Jack Lemon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe. Classic Valentine's Day comedy

Last Show: Doctor Who (season 2 with David Tennant)

Last thing I looked up: How to Dress for a Pear Body Shape

Sweet/Savory: Uhhhhhhhh okay, so notoriously I have a sweet tooth, but I ALSO prefer savory for breakfast and for actual meals. For everything else I prefer sweet though.

Current Obsession: Doctor Who, specifically Nine and Rose. Unpopular opinion, but I don't ship Ten and Rose even a quarter as much as I ship Nine and Rose.

Looking forward to: I'm a bridesmaid for one of my best friends in May! And more immediately, I'm looking forward to slightly warmer weather at the end of the week because it has been in the negatives for a week now and I'm sick of it.

No pressure tagging: @magsintherain @mac-n-cheese-n-regret and @lilaccatholic tag, you're it ;D

[scotchiegirl]

Just a small note of appreciation for Sean Gallagher, the actor for Chip in season 2 episode 1 "New Earth" of Doctor Who. I mean the man spends the entire episode as a sycophant and then his mind gets taken over by Lady Cassandra he NAILS it, like I would have been prepared to swear that that was Zoë Wanamaker walking around wearing someone else's skin, the transition is SEAMLESS